A/N –
Tonyboy: Oh my gosh, I hope you get the part! I'm so happy for you! My school never performed West Side Story, which sucks. Haha, I'm sorry I haven't been able to update any faster. While I was starting out, I had enough time in the world, which was why I could update frequently. These days, I have to squeeze time to do stuff I want to do. Add that to writer's block and you get no chapters whatsoever. I'm sorry! Hahaha! Thanks for making my day with your review, Tonyboy.

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CHAPTER IX: Step by Step

Tony found me again without even trying and I didn't even try to pretend I wasn't happy. Mama had sent me out to Doc's store one afternoon, not long since the last time I'd seen Tony, to buy some aspirin. She would've sent Bernardo, but he fell asleep right after school and she didn't have the heart to wake him since he'd been losing sleep lately.

Doc's store wasn't far from where I lived. It was a short walk and always gave me enough time to look around the neighborhood. It was the first time I was out of the house alone and I felt a little nervous. Papa and Bernardo always warned me about he Americans who picked on the Puerto Ricans and every now and then I glanced behind me to make sure no one was following me.

"Why, hello," Doc greeted me, smiling from behind the counter. "You're one of the Javier kids, aren't you? I've seen you with Bernardo,"

Doc was a thin graying man in his mid-fifties. He was an immigrant, like us, but was considered already an American since he'd adopted their accent and already spoke good English. I liked him. He was always kind to me and my family.

"Yes," I smiled at him. "My name is Maria,"

"Maria. That's a pretty name," he commented and I remembered Tony. "Well, what can I help you with? Chocolate, candy, soda?"

I shook my head. "Mama sent me to buy some aspirin,"

Doc nodded. "One aspirin for the little lady, coming up!"

He disappeared under the counter and reappeared a moment later with the aspirin in hand. When he did, the bell signaling another customer was entering the store, jangled noisily.

"Hey, Doc, I gotta see you bout something, can I?" said a voice from behind me.

"Oh sure, Tony," Doc told the voice. "I got all the time in the world."

Tony?

I whirled around and came face to face with the boy himself, towering by the door of the store, in a brown jacket, jeans, a blue shirt and sneakers. He looked tired and sweaty, as if he'd been running, and there was a look in his eyes that I'd never seen before. He looked troubled.

He smiled instantly when our eyes met and I had to smile too.

"Maria?" he said, staring at me in disbelief. "I didn't…I never…What are you doing here?"

He looked so happy I thought he was going to burst.

"I live nearby. I came to buy some aspirin," I told him, laughing.

He frowned. "You have a headache?"

"No, Mama sent me out." I answered. "What…what are you doing here?"

"I came to see Doc about something," he glanced at Doc. "I don't live that far from here either. It's just a couple of blocks away,"

"Oh, you left your Math book behind the…other day. It is with me. If you…if you want I can go home and get it," I told him, suddenly remembering the book that had been lying underneath my pillow for the past few days.

"I was hoping it was with you," he said. "But I don't want you to go off home and get it yourself…I could come with you…"

"No!" I said suddenly. It wasn't safe for an American to be in our neighborhood. Chino might be there, or Toro or Luis…Papa might see us, Bernardo might wake up…Anita might be coming home from the shop…it was too risky.

"Yeah yeah, you're right, that's not the smartest thing to do…" Tony looked thoughtful. I looked at him, wanting to confess that I wanted to see him every day. I was slowly falling in love with him, I was sure, especially with Bernardo and Papa pushing me about Chino. I'd realized I was thinking about Tony every night before I went to sleep, just to make me smile.

Oh my goodness. I was sure it was the most wrongful thing to do, to fall in love with an American, but I couldn't help it.

"Oh, Maria I want to see you again!" Tony suddenly said. "Tell you what, since school isn't really working, can we just meet here every once in a while? Just to talk…Please say yes! You do owe me my Math book so you can use that as an excuse…it won't be lying…"

"Yes, but what about my brother's friends? Your friends?" I said, my heart bursting to say 'yes'. "We might be seen. You said it yourself that your friends can't see us together and I told you my brother and his friends will not have it seeing you with me,"

Tony paused to think, then his eyes shone, as if he'd just been hit by a most wonderful idea.

"The boys don't come here often, not unless Officer Krupke tells them off. They like hanging out more in the park or in the alleys. Does your brother and his friends come here often?"

I shook my head. "I am not really sure but I know they spend most of their time on the roof of our building." Racism was high in New York and, since Doc's was owned by what the neighborhood considered to be as an American, I figured Bernardo and the others didn't go there unless they needed something.

"That's good. Because I'm here to ask Doc if he could give me a job…" Tony turned to Doc, who was still behind the counter, listening to us. "Willya, Doc? Just to help you and all?"

Doc shrugged. "Is that the thing you wanted to talk about? You're a funny kid, Tone. I knew you'd straighten up. Of course you got the job."

"Oh wow, thanks, Doc!" He turned to me again. "Now since I'll be working, I'll know who'll be here. If it's safe, I'll send you a signal,"

"What kind of signal?" I was getting excited.

"I'll send you a rose…I'll leave it in the alley behind your buildings…where the fire exits are,"

"I will leave something there…a vase so you could put the rose in and I would find it. No one goes there anyway so they wouldn't notice anything," I told Tony, feeling my face flush. I couldn't believe what I was doing but I couldn't stop myself. Tony's smile widened.

"So you'll say yes? You'll come here each time?" he said.

"I cannot promise I will be there every time, because I am not allowed to come here alone. So I will have to make up more excuses. If I cannot come, maybe you can come to where I live and we can do our talking on those stairs behind the buildings…"

"The fire stairs?" Tony laughed. "All right."

I smiled widely, not being able to help myself. I paid for the aspirin and thanked Doc.

"I'd better go. Mama will be waiting for me," I said. "Goodbye, Tony. I will see you soon, yes?"

"Well I need my Math book so I hope you will," he smiled. "Goodbye, Maria. I'll see you soon,"

I nodded happily, fastened the buttons on my coat and left the store. I didn't look back, afraid Tony might see me blushing.

Deep inside of me, even though I was drunk with happiness, there was a little voice that kept bothering me. What are you doing? It was saying. You are putting the both of you in danger! You know this is not right, Maria. This is not right.

But then, there was this stronger voice and it was the one I believed in. It only said one thing though:

Go.

I felt like I had to. I knew I wanted to. I knew I would.

So I did.

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It was difficult, trying to scrounge up excuses to go to Doc's store every time I saw a new rose in the vase outside. I'd placed it in a convenient place for the both of us: where I could easily see it and where Tony could easily place roses in without being seen. After I saw each one, when I went out, I'd take the rose to leave the vase empty for the next one. At first, Mama and Papa were suspicious but, since Doc always covered up for us, they decided I wasn't doing anything wrong. I would go when Bernardo wouldn't be around since he could follow me and only spent at least ten to twenty minutes with Tony because it just wasn't too safe. Most of the time, he'd come to the fire stairs where we'd talk in hushed whispers, me from my window and him from the stairs. When I gave him his Math book back I told him if it was all right that I'd taken his drawing of me. He'd blushed.

"I could draw a better picture than that," he said. "That one I drew doesn't even match your beauty,"

I was flattered. "I don't like it because you think that, I like it because you drew it and it was me and to me that is the most beautiful present anyone can ever give,"

"Are you sure it's okay?"

"Is it all right for me to keep it?"

"Yes, it's fine. But is it really okay for you?"

I'd smiled at him. "It is the most perfect thing in the world. Thank you, Tony,"

We talked about countless things. He told me about the Jets, his gang, the ones he called his buddy-boys. He told me about his family, his dead father, his being an only child and Riff being the brother he never had; his beliefs, his passions, his dreams. I'd never met anyone so marvelous my entire life. Tony was a good soul. He radiated goodness and he was always a perfect gentleman. I had to limit what I told him. I couldn't tell him about Chino, I couldn't tell me about the times it was so cold in the apartment whenever the old radiator broke down and the four of us had to sleep together to stay warm. Tony was more well-off than we were and I didn't want to saddle him with my problems.

"You always seem troubled, Maria," He told me one afternoon while on the fire stairs. "Is anything bothering you? You can tell me…I can help,"

"No, nothing is bothering me," I told him. "Just a lot of schoolwork," I used that excuse many times.

"Well I can help you with schoolwork. Just not with Math. I'm not actually made for it," Tony grinned at me.

"Which is why you draw on your book rather than answer the questions?" I said to him, smiling.

He shrugged, with an expression like that of a little boy's on his face. "It's better than wasting your time doing nothing,"

"You make me laugh," I told him fondly, remembering to keep my voice low.

"I like making you laugh. It makes me smile," he said brightly.

"I like it when you smile," I said.

"I like it when you're happy," he told me.

"I like it that you're the one making me happy," I said.

"I love you,"

And before I knew it, Tony leaned forward, closed his eyes and gave me my first kiss.

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A/N: Aha! How's that for a cliffie! Hahaha! More next time! Be sure to stay tuned! (P.S. I don't know if the correct term is really 'fire stairs' because I only heard my brother say it once and I don't know what else to call it. If it goes by another name, kindly correct me. Hahaha.)